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Formatech donates $308K in aseptic liquid fill and finish manufacturing services

Formatech continues its pledge to give back and make a difference in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical community with its Fillanthropy Program. Since the program’s inception, Formatech has donated $308K in aseptic liquid fill and finish manufacturing services to companies developing new drug therapies.

28 Jan 2010

Are Canadians with chronic conditions getting the support they need to manage their health?

Many Canadians with chronic health conditions don't regularly receive some of the expected types of support that could help them better manage their own health, according to the latest Canadian Health Care Matters bulletin from the Health Council of Canada.

28 Jan 2010

Blocking CRF may prevent excessive alcohol consumption

A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has found that a specific stress hormone, the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), is key to the development and maintenance of alcohol dependence in animal models.

28 Jan 2010

Virgin HealthMiles announces significant annual growth in 2009

Virgin HealthMiles, a leading provider of employee health and productivity programs that reward individuals for getting healthy, today announced significant annual growth in 2009, with a 30 percent year-over-year increase in new clients and a 163 percent year-over-year growth in the number of eligible program members.

28 Jan 2010

Innovative Alaska Health Plan outperforms many others in lower 48

Kaiser Health News reports on Alaska's Southcentral Foundation.

27 Jan 2010

Reuters examines chronic disease in developing countries, future of drug prices

"Global health projections leave little doubt that chronic diseases are rapidly overtaking infectious diseases, such as malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis (TB), as the world's biggest killers - a shift emphasized by a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report on global health risks," Reuters writes in a story analyzing the future of drug pricing in the developing world. Longer life-spans in developing countries "and changing patterns of food, alcohol and tobacco consumption are creating a 'double burden' for poor nations, piling chronic diseases on top of infectious diseases," the news service writes.

21 Jan 2010

Engaging in incentive-based wellness program is associated with lower healthcare costs

According to a study published in the January/February issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion, a peer-reviewed journal devoted to health promotion, health plan members who participated in fitness-related activities within an incentive-based health insurance wellness program had significantly lower healthcare costs.

21 Jan 2010

NABJ to hold annual conference on Health Disparities

The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) will hold its annual conference on Health Disparities, March 4-6, 2010 at the Barbara Jordan Conference Center at Kaiser Family Foundation in Washington, D.C. The conference will provide journalists the tools to effectively report on the impact of health, health policy and health care reform on communities of color.

21 Jan 2010

NHC urges congress to continue work on meaningful healthcare reform

The National Health Council (NHC), an organization providing a united voice for the more than 133 million people with chronic diseases and disabilities and their family caregivers, today sent a letter to Congress urging the House and Senate to "continue working to accomplish the long-sought goal of health care reform."

21 Jan 2010

Data may help identify severity of ulcerative colitis in high-risk patients

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic disease involving the large intestine which causes inflammation along with local and systemic symptoms. It affects individuals worldwide, with a higher prevalence in Canada. The course of this disease has long been unpredictable, with remission possible in some patients and frequent recurrence in others.

20 Jan 2010

HDL launches new preventative model to help physicians manage chronic diseases

Health Diagnostic Laboratory Inc. (HDL), www.hdlabinc.com, announced today the launch of its new preventative model to chronic disease management based off a monumental shift in the way physicians test for life threatening conditions.

19 Jan 2010

Research team reports rare etiology of SMA syndrome

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common chronic disease of the world and the prevalence of diabetes mellitus is over 10% in Taiwan. Gastroparesis is reported in 5% to 12% of diabetic patients.

18 Jan 2010

Coalition asks Congress to eliminate excise tax on health benefits

American Dental Association President Ron Tankersley, DDS, says the provision as written, "[I]s the opposite of health care reform. It would compel many employers to drop critical dental and other coverage to avoid the tax. It dismantles exactly the type of preventive, primary care that everyone agrees this country needs more of."

13 Jan 2010

American Lung Association releases State of Tobacco Control 2009 report

The American Lung Association today released its State of Tobacco Control 2009 report, which grades the strength of federal and state laws to protect citizens from tobacco-caused illnesses.

12 Jan 2010

Med-Vision implements Verisk Health’s Explorer solution to reduce clients' healthcare costs

Verisk Health, Inc. today announced that Med-Vision, LLC helped clients reduce healthcare costs by 10 to 12 percent with Verisk Health’s Explorer solution. Verisk Health is a global leader in identifying, analyzing, and predicting healthcare risk. Med-Vision is a leading medical consulting company.

12 Jan 2010

AASLD supports IOM study that recommends ways to reduce viral hepatitis B and C

The American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD) today reacted favorably to the release by they Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the report of "Hepatitis and Liver Cancer: A National Strategy for Prevention and Control of Hepatitis B and C." This landmark study evaluated the burden from viral hepatitis and current preventive and management practices and recommended ways to reduce new cases of hepatitis B and C and morbidity and mortality from chronic disease.

11 Jan 2010

Study demonstrates benefits of allergen immunotherapy for children with allergic rhinitis

Allergy immunotherapy, generally referred to as allergy vaccinations or shots, reduce total health care costs in children with allergic rhinitis (hay fever) by one-third, and prescription costs by 16 percent, according to a study published this month in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI).

11 Jan 2010

Renowned physician highlights digital medical devices at International CES 2010

Dr. Eric J. Topol, chief academic officer of Scripps Health and chief medical officer of the West Wireless Health Institute (WWHI), will join Qualcomm chairman and CEO Dr. Paul E. Jacobs during Jacobs' keynote at International CES on Friday, January 8, 2010, to highlight a variety of digital medical devices that offer physicians and consumers the ability to remotely monitor fitness, sleep, vital signs and pre-natal activity.

9 Jan 2010

Nonin Medical to demonstrate Onyx II fingertip pulse oximeter

Nonin Medical, Inc., a leading innovator of physiological monitoring solutions and the inventor of fingertip pulse oximetry, will demonstrate the World's first Continua(TM) Certified Bluetooth® fingertip pulse oximeter, the Onyx® II, Model 9560, as part of the historic first end-to-end Continua(TM) connected health solution.

7 Jan 2010

Study finds self-management alone may effectively treat knee osteoarthritis

Researchers participating in the Multidimensional Intervention for Early Osteoarthritis of the Knee (Knee Study) determined that physically inactive, middle-aged people with symptomatic osteoarthritis benefitted equally from strength training regimens, self-management programs, or a combination of the two. Details of this study are available in the January 2010 issue of Arthritis Care & Research, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology.

6 Jan 2010